Ricky Ponting gives watchful advice to Marnus Labuschagne ahead of 2nd Ashes Test vs ENG

Why you're reading this: The Australian cricket team registered a memorable win in the inaugural Test of the Ashes 2023 against England and won the match by two wickets. The English cricket team were in a commanding position to win the match but Aussie captain Pat Cummins didn't let this happen and did a match-winning partnership with Nathan Lyon and took his team over the line. 

3 things you need to know 

• Australia needed 281 runs to win the inaugural Ashes 2023 Test 
• The Aussies were 227/8 in the second innings at one stage 
• Australia still needed 54 runs to win and had just two wickets in hand

Aussie pull off a thriller in Edgbaston

The Australian cricket team faced a batting collapse in the second innings. On a rain-hit Day 5 in Edbaston, the overnight Aussie batsmen Usman Khawaja and Scott Boland came out to bat for the visitors. The rain had delayed the start of the play and also the outfield had become slow. It was very hard for the batsmen to hit boundaries. Though, Khawaja and Boland kept on taking rotating the strike and didn't put any pressure to come on their team. 

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However, the team faced a batting collapse wherein top names like Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Alex Carey, and Cameron Green were back in the dressing room. The team still needed 54 runs and they just had two wickets in hand. On the crease were Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon who were genuinely known for their bowling. Though, both the players added 55* runs for the ninth wicket and snathed the win out of the jaws of the hosts. 

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Ricky Ponting's watchful advice to Marnus Labuschange ahead of 2nd Test vs England 

The Australian cricket team were able to win the inaugural Ashes 2023 Test against England but the ICC number two Test batsman Marnus Labuschagne failed to score against the English team. Labuschange got dismissed for the scores of 0 and 13 and could not execute a good performance. 

Eyeing Marnus Labuschagne's dismal performance in the first Test, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has a piece of watchful advice for Labuschange. Ponting believes that the right-handed Aussie batsman needs to go back to the basics and also believes that he is overdoing a lot of things. Speaking on the ICC Review Ponting said, 

But I would like to catch up with him (Labuschagne) and have a chat about his batting, because I think what I’ve seen over the last couple of weeks, as far as I’m concerned, I think he’s over complicating things a little bit.

“I think he has to trust and believe in what’s made him the No.2-ranked Test batsman for the last couple of years and go back to trusting that. I would actually tell him to watch some video of when he’s actually played his best, and remember those things and do that all over again.

The second Test match of the Ashes 2023 series will be played at the Lord's cricket ground of London from June 28, 2023 and the visitors currently lead the five match series by 1-0.